Psychiatric medications, science, marketing, psychiatry in general, and occasionally clinical psychology. Questioning the role of key opinion leaders and the use of "science" to promote commercial ends rather than the needs of people with mental health concerns.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Lilly has agreed to shell out a half billion dollars to settle legal claims brought by those who claimed to be harmed by Zyprexa. There are 1200 more claims that will head to court in April, so the $$ to be paid out will nearly certainly increase. To nobody's surprise, Lilly has described the lawsuits as "baseless." Just like the last batch of "baseless" lawsuits that were settled for $700 million, I'm sure!

Lilly made a mistake motivated by a desire for profits (greed) now it's time to face the music.Lilly occasionally comes out with theses periodic media PR's on compensation ($27,000 per person?) then nothing further happens and you wonder why victims get indignant.--Daniel Haszard www.zyprexa-victims.com

It strikes me that psychiatry itself is as much at fault as the pharmaceutical companies. Patients have revealed over and over to me that their psychiatrists have ignored complaints about side-effects and adverse reactions that are not acknowledged by the pharmaceutical industry. It's as if the reps have posed the challenge to psychiatrists: who are you going to believe, me or the patients taking the drug and telling you of their problems with it? Too often, it's the rep for the pharmaceutical company who is believed.

I remember when psychiatrists were actually denying the sexual side effect of ssris. I'm sure that most of them have developed amnesia for the many patients whose concerns they dismissed 13+ years ago.

Thanks for your comment. I agree that some blame falls at the feet of practitioners. I think that the drug industry does a good job of keeping docs in the dark, however, through misleading marketing, concealing information, and the like. Docs should certainly be viewing info emerging from industry sources (such as reps) with healthy skepticism.

And trusting your patients regarding side effects doesn't seem like too crazy of an idea, does it?

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About Me

I'm an academic with a respectable amount of clinical experience and no drug industry funding. Given my lack of time, don't expect multiple daily updates. Certain things about clinical psychology, the drug industry, psychiatry, and academics drive me nuts, and you'll probably pick up on these pet peeves before long...